Author: Fashion Statement

Thanks to Davido, the World believes most Nigerians have 30 billion in our Bank accounts and with Folorunso Alakija’s recent spend of 5 million pounds on an extravagant wedding display for her beloved son… no wonder the World pays attention when Nigerians get married!

My last blog covered my personal experience as a bridesmaid at a Nigerian traditional wedding which wasn’t too kind to my pocket by the way , lol. Do you remember me mentioning a lady at the wedding who was coordinating the brides movements and outfit changes? Well, her name is Oluwatosin (Tosin) Agboola, bridal stylist and founder of TWMSuper interested in what exactly she does, I pulled her aside to ask her some questions.

1. What is The Wardrobe Manager? The Wardrobe Manager is Nigeria’s premier bridal styling company and we strive to offer not only the perfect wardrobe but a convenient and reliable shopping experience for brides.We lend our expertise and passion for bridal fashion to each bride we have the pleasure of styling. We also create the bride’s preferred bridal look turning her wedding wardrobe into a powerful expression of her personalitan and style.

2. Is there a market for the bridal industry in Nigeria? Yes, definitely. We have an array of bespoke wedding dress designers and bridal salons who are fast gaining momentum. We also have a growing market of suppliers who provide bridal fashion accessories. I believe Nigeria will get to a point where brides no longer have to fly abroad to search for their wedding dresses and other fashion elements.

3. What are the challenges of a bridal styling company? With a limited marketing and advertising budget, it has been very difficult to reach a wider audience and create more awareness. This has made the company rely more on social media marketing, referrals and word of mouth marketing. So far, it has worked well for me as I continue to expand the business. However, I still need to invest more in advertising and marketing the company.

4. My final question to her was why weddings? And wasn’t she afraid of dealing with bridezillas… She answered saying, “ Wedding planning is an overwhelming process which usually doesn’t enable a bride to find the time to explore the options available to her in terms of selecting her outfits. This is further compounded when a bride is very particular in terms of her taste or for instance, has a large bridal party which she needs to coordinate, as she would need to consider a number of factors in selecting the style of their dresses and accessories and at the same time, ensuring she stays within their budget.
For this reason, we spotted the need for a bridal stylist- one who would be able to take the burden off her and who she can trust with the task of overseeing and coordinating her wardrobe and that of her groom, mother or bridal party whilst she’s able to focus on other important things.

With TWM, a bride will be provided with guidance to ensure her personality is expressed through her style. A bride will have assurance that there’s someone in charge of her look, who is making sure that all details are accounted for. She has that extra peace of mind that a fashion emergency is not going to impact her big day and she’s at her very best!

So there you have it! She calls herself a bridal stylist and I call her a bride’s best friend!

Well I am part of that “bad gang”, “the fashionistas” that over dress for every possible event… lol.

Here is guide to help you understand our mind-set a little better.

For us …how we dress has nothing to do with what other people think … It is simply how we chose to express ourselves… we set a personal bar on how we dress that is typically higher than most people.. The same way some people push themselves to be the fittest ( health wise) or the most productive (work wise).

Most people believe we do so to show off or make a point and that is sooooo far from the truth … It is a life style choice.

Believe me when I say it take us even more time to dress down than it does to dress up …because of the conscious effort we have to make not to look over dressed.

For me being a creative person, my body is my canvas from head to toe. taking the time to style my hair to match my look for the day, pairing the right shoes with the right outfit to achieve a certain look… hard work for most… comfort zone for us.

Our hair is our crown so styling it any which way should always is a thrill. For others its makeup or doing their nails. We do what makes us feel pretty, for ourselves first …before anyone or anything else.

Everybody can learn to tap into the Fashionista mind set in some small way and I would encourage it…

Being asked to be a bridesmaid is quite thrilling… that is until you have to pay for your dress! Yikes!

I was recently asked to be a bridesmaid, and of course, I said yes. I asked what my duties would be, and before anything we discussed the fabric I would need to purchase…luckily for me they were only going to be having a traditional wedding and I sew my own clothes so that softened the blow to my pockets considerably.

We were free to sew whatever design we wanted as long as it went well with a gele I was delighted with that. She told me how he popped the question over ice cream … which lead me back to think about that ex, yes we all have that one ex. I complimented her beautiful engagement ring and was very impressed with her fiancé’s taste.

So the events kicked off at the hen night, unfortunately I missed this event as it was held on a Thursday.

The day of the traditional wedding we all met up super early at the a hotel. Walking into the room the bride handed me a pretty box with my name on it, I opened the box to find a handful of personalised items with my name printed on them… She said, “thank you for being my bridesmaid”. I thought how cute of her.

Now to get my makeup done. We had an option of two makeup artists and never using them before I decided to wait to see how the other girls’ makeup turned out lol. After this we took pictures and our roles for the day was appointed to us. I was blessed with picking up money duty which felt like not much work at the time, boy was I wrong.

Everyone was dressed and naturally behind schedule we rushed to the venue. Walking into the hall beautifully decorated. The introduction begin and so did the spraying of the money… My work had started!

After the first part of the wedding we headed back to the hotel for a change of clothing and group pictures. During this time I noticed a young lady running around coordinating every movement of the Bride. I was curious and said hi to her, she introduced herself as Tosin and explained she owned a bridal styling company called The Wardrobe Manager (TWM) a bit confused never knowing there was such a thing as a bridal stylist. We continued to talk and exchanged numbers. (Find out more about her in my next blog post)

The true work began at the second part of the wedding dancing and collecting the money sprayed was a serious workout on my legs… It says it all in the title brides “maid” supporting the needs of your dear friend in heels, whilst wearing a bespoke gown… This role is not for the weak!

The bomber jacket or flight jacket’s birth dates back to as far as World War 1, serving as a functional attire for pilots, balancing their body temperature at high altitudes. The jacket later evolved to suit the needs of the pilots’ jet model; it too also evolved moving at greater speeds and reaching higher heights.

Warm and able to with stand minus zero temperatures it quickly become a popular choice for those outside of the military.

Now finding itself on the fashion runways the jacket not only graces fall collections but spring summer collections too.

Over garments are currently trending, long or short they can be spotted everywhere from the red carpet events to basketball games. Various Nigerian designers have translated their own style take towards the rebirthing of this piece. Using lace and traditional fabric, more relatable and fitting for hotter climates.

I would have paired the bomber jacket with jeans, which would have worked too, but I opted to sew a skirt instead. I had some glossy green fabric hidden somewhere in my room, I cut the fabric and took to my sewing machine. A high side slit brought more character to the skirt, showing a little leg never hurt anyone right? lol.

The bomber jacket in the image was the inspiration for this particular look. The brand who designed it introduces a new twist, the choice of using a lighter fabric with an ethnic print. The traditional print has also been rocked by celebrities from Chris Brown to Wiz Kid, and continues to influence fashion designs in many other styles across the World.

Some of today’s most popular styles/trends were invented on the basis of solving a functional problem in a working environment. These styles were pulled into the ever evolving World Fashion and in time we often forget where they came from … Fascinating!

My fav is the jersey fabric type, it allows room for movement, sexy and figure hugging. This piece stuns with a crop top as seen in the images below. Free flowing tops add’s its own appeal when the front is tucked neatly into the maxi skirt.

Maxi skirts can also be found in a circle and A–lined style.

We can all agree that every women across the world is sure to have this little number in her closet, another piece that is catered for different body types and a personal choice in style.

So go girl, headed to the mosque, church, school run, hanging out with the ladies, we here at Fashion Statement give you our style approval… As it is always best to stay classy and leave more to the imagination.

Speical thanks to @bldbyplay for hosting us at the King and Queens games night.

I am sure we have all experienced many challenges when dealing with Nigerian tailors/seamstress. So here are some tips to make the journey less stressful.

When choosing fabric we always seem to assume the fashion designer readily have all the key tools to match your fabric. To make the job easier, especially when a next day request is made. Buying the list below in addition would totally help speedup the process.

1) Lining.

2) Two open and close zippers

– A zip for a top is long but never as long as a dress zipper.

– A Skirt/trouser require a much shorter zipper than tops and dresses do.

3) 6 yards of bias

4) Buttons if needed (Bare in mind the size of the button to fit your style of choice)

5) Thread

6) Hock and eye

Ensure each item from the list above correlates with the colour code of your fabric.